Reviews

Korea's oldest surviving Kaiju movie

Space Monster Wangmagwi is the oldest surviving Korean Kaiju film. It also boasts one of the largest cast of extras for any film coming in around 160,000. The Koreans put their own stamp on a rampaging monster tearing up a capital city while the military watches powerlessly genre.

Bride-to-be Ahn Hee and pilot Jeong Hwan are celebrating the eve of their long-awaited wedding when Jeong Hwan is called back to his base. What everyone is about to find out is that aliens are orbiting the Earth and have unleashed a monster in their quest to conquer the planet. Even with people running around screaming and abandoning her wedding day, Ahn Hee dresses for her event, even having her hair done until the stylist scurries away. When she realizes no one is coming, not even the groom, she and her mother decide to leave as the monster slowly approaches them. Each one took turns falling down over and over again, in order to give the ugliest Kaiju in Kaiju history time to catch up. Ahn Hee is grabbed by the monster a la Fay Wray in King Kong style. A young street boy named Squirrel, who has stolen food and a knife from a deserted house decides to run up the monster instead of running away. The boy takes matters into his own hands and does more good in thwarting the aliens’ objectives than the military and civilian forces combined.

Space Monster Wangmagwi was quintessentially Korean. Instead of focusing on a handful of characters directly involved with stopping a monster, SPW had a series of vignettes that had nothing to do with saving the world. Some of the things you would never see in a Japanese Kaiju film included—a long pooping scenario, several instances of theft, child birthing, and two idiots betting about different things during the catastrophe and wagering everything including one man’s wife. There were also copious amounts of tears.

The building miniatures were exquisite as was the rubble, looking far more believable than some of the cardboard towns Toho was using at this time. I thought at first they were using forced perspective or some other film magic and then the monster would lean against one of the buildings or start tearing it down. Very impressive work. Too bad they didn’t put the same care into the monster suit. I didn’t think anything could top the moth-eaten Kong suit in King Kong vs Godzilla (1962), then Wangmagwi said, “Hold my beer.” The costume looked like a flight suit covered in cow dung, I hate to be crude but that’s the first thought that came to my mind. Wangmagwi also seemed to forget that he was holding a human in one hand when he was beating on buildings. The Gamma aliens weren’t much better, they wore what appeared to be dented gold buckets on their heads. And when the spaceship was flying the wires showed as it wobbled. The science was bizarre. Due to different gravity from the home world, the monster grew 500 times his size when dumped on Earth. Setting aside the absurdity of that “science,” wouldn’t the aliens have become gigantic as well, making settling the planet awkward?

My favorite part of the movie would usually be my least favorite. There have been many Gamera movies where I hoped the giant turtle would snack on an annoying child. Squirrel may have been cocky but he was cleverly proactive. The precocious thief’s actions, and not the military, saved the day. His maneuvers also pointed out how slow-witted the aliens were. The aliens only fear of the military was that they would trash the neighborhood and leave the planet uninhabitable for the conquerors.

I enjoyed having the chance to watch this film that was largely unavailable for decades. I might not have relished the poop and wife betting comedy, but I was happy to see this piece of Korea’s Kaiju film history.

10/19/23

Leia Mais

Couldn't continue

Watched this in iQIYi as a paid subscriber.

Early in the episode, I already got confuse with the cave scene wherein a young gir with her Dad wearing mask are trying to capture a robber.
What's confusing is that the robber saved father and daughter from the deadly live vines using fire but after they got saved the robber stabbed the father killing him. Seriously did not make sense to me. This is how vengeance became the lead female's motivation for continuing to wear a mask and hunt down her fathers killer. Then she comes across a general who is about her age and because she found the same ring the robber had from ten years ago, she assumed he isbthat robber. Didn't make sense again: he would have been a young kid like her in that cave. Nit even half way through and so many senseless scenes and lines casing me to lose interest.

I still continued watching even though the female lead doesn't seem to be working for me. The supporting actress looks better fitting the lead role. This lead actress' facial expressions are sometimes contradicting for the scene.
The male lead actor is handsome but seems to be lacking chemistry between him and lead female actress.

I tried to keep watching hoping the artists will grown on me and story will hook me however, it wasn't enticing enough. Story is not flowing smoothly and there were few contradictions in characters for both female and male lead on top of senseless scenes and lines.

There may be an explanation as to how the cat masked came about but i didn’t come across it before I dropped this series.

It wasn't worth the time for me and definitely wont consider rewatching it. I have dropped series before but placed it on list of possible rewatch but not this one. I do not recommend this series at alk but it is my perspective which can and may be different than yours so give it a try and decide.

Leia Mais

Kick ass movie with fresh action

This proves Korean cinemas ability to make high quality quality action flick with a woman as main lead even better than John Wick. It has a strong drive, very strong villain and excellent music. The strong female lead drives it through with her charisma and thoroughness. Such a well made movie. No nonsense sex scenes like the ones in Hollywood. There is no lag in the movie and the movie swings by in a zippy. This is a needed movie. It shows how today’s clubs massage parlours still have shady things and shady people. This movie literally kicked me out of my drama slump and out of the couch. I feel so energised after seeing it. It’s definitely not for the faint hearted.

Leia Mais

Good.

-Neg:

1. That Rio has reinstated his old role. (accident)
2. That he could not express his feelings to Haruhiko.
3. Too few kisses
4. The Music during the lovescenes were not fitting.


+Pos:

1. The Maincouple
2. Acting (especially the Kissing and Lovescene). It was excellent. i don't even want to know how hard that was.
3. That the two became a couple towards the end.
4. Finally few Lovescenes. I have been desperately waiting for this (already in the series). The Lovescenes was excellent from the Quality and the duration. Iam Very satisfied.
5. The duration of the kisses. I loved it. They killed me right away. Lol

Leia Mais

Good. The kissing was the best in the Movie!!!

WHAT THE ....heck was this kiss O_O ??????? I have never seen in any Movies/Series that they kissed so passionately, wildly...... and for so long.......why didn't the two already kiss in the Movies before? Why they didn´t slept together ? Unfortunately, this is far too short for a Movie - why only 12 minutes? I would have liked to see more of this couple. :-OOOOOO
They killed me with that kiss. OMG Lol.


-Neg:

1. Movie was too short
2. No Lovescene. Very disappointed


+Pos:

1. The Kiss was the best of this Movie. I could watch this every day. It never gets boring. Very believable.
2. The Maincouple
3. Acting

Leia Mais

OMG!!!!

One of my Favorite Gay Series....omg this was hardcore. What was i looking at anyway haha xD...????????...The acting was way too good...was that even acting...???? The lovescenes were too sexy....... O_O


-Neg:

1. In the end, I wanted the love scene to be a bit wilder.
2. Not enough Kisses. I wished for more.


+Pos:

1. Story was interesting.
2. Acting was Perfect
3. The Main Characters. I love them as a Couple. *-*
4. Music
5. The Lovescenes was Really Hardcore.
6. Am very happy that the two are a couple. Searched and found.

Leia Mais

Like opening a lot of time capsules from 20 years of their lives

This is hard to rate because it really depends on what you want from it. I wanted nothing in particular as I knew nothing but who the leads were from the poster… I loved my couple of hours with them because it really fit my wandering/daydreamy mind that was fine just quietly observing while curled up with a ball of fluff.

This is a slice of life… we are getting a moving image selection of time capsules of these characters’ lives, and where they are and who they are with in that moment is all you are getting, not some huge plot of what ifs, just a beautiful depiction of how the choices of each person at every stage made them grow, change, and all the same keep looking back and letting their hearts linger at a time long past. The child actress was an astonishingly good match, something I didn’t realize until I kept seeing them back and forth. She was also just plain good at connecting to this story in that quiet, nuanced way I see depicted in a lot of Japanese art. Minimalist in some ways, sure, but more like precision, a lack of clutter in what is shown so you see precisely what you should.

What you see? Beautiful cinematography, truly. The parts that are a bit more raw like the early months working in a cheese factory for the ML feel entirely intentional. When things are more harmonious, it is very clearly meant to convey the state of mind/level of comfort and peace in that singular moment. Everywhere is thoughtfully decorated, and this one warm older woman kept giving me Kim Hye Ja feels and I wanted her to feed me, too. Even the food, while only a few moments of it were shown, was really tender…

It is, from my viewing, about finding your home (your soul’s home in particular) and healing from things that made you run from even your happiest moments. The connections are not some pretty, perfect picture. They are realistic. The leads are understated in their expressions much of the time, her more than him, but their faces show pretty clearly how they are processing their emotions… you could probably turn off subs for 80% of this and still get 90% of what is said… ah, the music is also truly good, well-fitting for this film (which is actually “adapted from a song” which sure isn’t a tag I will see much, is it?). There is a bit of a shortcoming in the story itself a few places, mostly approaching the end, and I don’t love time skip endings in general (well, I particularly don’t like these barely there time skip endings… like why not show more between the ferry fireworks end of era capsule and the final one? I feel slightly, well, slighted there. Sure, it definitely works this way, but some things, even done well, make you ask “coulllldn’t you? We would be soooo happy to see this process after so many others were shown in such detail!” Alas, they jumped ahead in a way that felt a little disjointed and peculiar after the rest was so detailed in making sure the moments would linger…

I really found myself appreciating the hair and makeup stylists here!! They found the right ways to make time pass and make them seem definitely older, and that really helped in times when things were not going as desired. It was convincing, and they carried themselves in a way that matched the visuals the team crafted through makeup and hairstyles. The supporting cast were all just excellent, too.

So that is the spoiler free (slice of life doesn’t really have a ton of spoilers) reaction for this thread of fate being entwined, tangled, snapping, tied back together, etc. for every person in this whole film… the emotions are not loudly expressed very often, but they are palpable. Just know it feels a bit like an art film that is more about impressions left than any particular plot being carried out (almost 20 years of time are covered, so lots of small plot moments make the impressions, but they don’t directly connect in a linear fashion; rather, they culminate). It is reflective and has some flashbacks that some may not love. I would not want to watch this if my mind was busy/distracted. It is something to just immerse your eyes in and soak up, to feel as you observe… I didn’t find myself thinking about any what ifs at all. I just rode its wave which was gentle enough to sweep me here and there without making me drown in any place or lose my balance. The simple words “Are you okay?” becoming a grounding force for someone in a bit of a bad place is one of its most lovely details… those tiny words can make someone feel able to breathe again, able to smile. Okay, doesn’t hurt if the other is adorable and adoring.

Leia Mais

What happens After SUNDOWN!

Based on the runtime, the experience was enjoyable. However, it would have been better if the movie had a longer runtime, around 170 to 180 minutes. This would allow for a more substantial background story and character development. Additionally, I wished there were more horror elements.

The relationship between the couple, Phloeng and Rawi, was portrayed well, but I was also interested in the development of the relationship between Phutson and Kraiphop. ?

Another aspect that I want to know about is the backstory of Kannika. If Pharit wasn't the father of Kannika's child, I'm curious to know where the child came from.

Yes! I like more drama and horror ?

There are several other aspects of the plot that piqued my curiosity.

P.S. - My review is just based on the movie. I haven't read the novel.

Leia Mais

that's just life

As a person who didn't grow up with their parents who are divorced but suddenly taken custody of by my mom, also being gay I relate to this a lot. I thought that this was a BL but I consider it more of a family-kind of drama. I hated it at first but as it went on I ended up enjoying it, if it weren't for the reconcile of the family nagisa made, I wouldn't even liked it even if shun and nagisa reconciled but the family didn't because I would feel bitter about it, sora really was important here and brought everyone together, the best girl!!

I really hated Nagisa but the movie really made it make sense and understandable. It doesn't change the fact that he was selfish and a coward that hurts a lot of people, made some problematic decisions, it's realistic and there are some things in life that we can't go back to and make excuse for but instead we should move on forward and make things right then on which nagisa did in the end thankfully.
I still hated him because of his ways, like breaking up with shun out of nowhere which left shun confused without being able to move on then coming back with a child then trying to pursue shun again which is again, so selfish! shun was about to move on and actually make a new life but nagisa stopped him, I feel bad for shun cause it's everybody's wish who are still in love with their ex is for them to come back and nagisa took advantage of it. Also sleeping with other men to satisfy his lust while being married with a child (which omg, thankfully sora has no idea about) basically a cheater, the unrealistic part is that he said shun is the only one who can satisfy him in the end which was so icky for me, so his lust was more greater than being content with his family like even if he is gay, don't sleep with others while being married!! Break it off first. So like the possibility of him cheating on shun too is pretty high.

Overall, great movie! If I'm being honest, I was angry and bored at the first half, like stuffs weren't making sense and they really make you hate nagisa then as it went on, things were explained and it gets quite exciting. Chemistry of the two leads were so good and the way nagisa reached, hold him close (like very tight- lol) and forced shun to stay with him was quite realistic for people that don't want people to leave them, I felt that scene a lot! It was the memorable part out of the movie for me. I feel for the mother and daughter, my mother also works a lot so I barely spend time with her but I was taken custody of but I still barely spend time with my mom so I'm really happy with the way things went in the movie the only difference is that I don't even bother to think about my father or want to get back with him, for now I'm good. it's like life where you can only experience things once, I dont find any reason to rewatch it.

Leia Mais

Too much talking, not enough monster

If you saw The Rock’s Scorpion in The Mummy 2 and thought, wow!, that’s amazing CGI, you may be impressed by the brief appearances of the Scorpion Monster in this film. The synopsis said the film was based on a famous Taoist monk, but he never made an appearance in this story. There was Ye, a self-absorbed officer for the Monster Killing Bureau and Yan, a self-absorbed monster hunter who was ordered to help Ye by the imperial court.

Yan had consumed the power of a Red Wolf demon and managed to bring her into human form. Ye and his two cohorts dropped by and ordered Yan to help them find the missing Yue Ling village. Ye feared the Scorpion Monster was at fault for the village’s disappearance. When they finally found Yue Ling they discovered the villagers were indebted to the Scorpion Monster who had saved them and wished to live in harmony with him. Neither Ye nor Yan believed that was possible even though Yan and the wolf demon had become close. In the shadows, was a mysterious woman who whispered into Ye’s ear (repeatedly) that Yan was responsible for his father’s death and if Yan absorbed the scorpion’s powers, the emperor would make him a state preceptor instead of Ye. In the end, it would be a struggle to see who would conquer or kill the scorpion and what would become of the villagers.

The above bland description of the basic premise of the story was actually more entertaining than watching this plodding movie. A movie with the title Scorpion Monster, should have some exciting scorpion scenes. There was very little Scorpion Monster in the movie, and probably for the best as the CGI was quite poor. The acting was on par with the CGI. The writing was substandard, dull, and quite repetitive for a movie that ran less than 90 minutes. Eighty minutes into it I was wondering who I was supposed to be rooting for aside from the monsters. And the final battle was the definition of anticlimactic. I actually said out loud, “Was that it?”

Normally, I would try to think of something positive to say about a movie for those who might possibly be interested in it even if I wasn’t. But with below average acting, writing, CGI, and fights, it’s hard to recommend. If you get a kick out of watching a cheaply made monster movie that only shows the monster briefly a couple of times, this might be for you, otherwise best to skip this one or get stung.

10/17/23

Leia Mais

Recommended Watch

This is a sequel to Fantasy Magician which I haven't seen yet so I am doing this backwards.

The prequel was done in 2016 so it is considered old for me however, since this sequel is good, I will watch the prequel.

This film is supposedly shown jn Tencent app but I watched this in iQIYI as a paid subscriber. The title in iQIYI is FACES OF DUNJIA 2.

I enjoyed the CGI here. It was done well. It is convincingly gory on some but nothing too wild to accept. Mostly bugs as in spiders and flies.
The worst scene is the scene with the 1 month old baby; although nothing was shown and only inferred, I wish that scene wasn't included or maybe altered. In the beginning part of the movie, there was a scene of a young boy tho they added a line for viewers to know the boy didnt die, with the baby scene, they should have also added a line to let viewers know what happened. It became a plot hole.

You wont find beautiful, sweet and pretty wardrobe used in this film. Humor is light and will not invoke a laugh or chuckles. Romance is also light glossed over by a memory recalling.

You have to pay attention to the story until the very end because it will reveal a surprise. Even after the very end there is an added scene with the attempt to make viewers laugh, but it will make you smile at best.

Every artist did really well in portraying their role. The fight martial arts choreography is good with few close up hand fight choreography.

It was directed well and production did an excellent job with sets and props.

Overall I highly recommend to be watched. As for rewatch value, maybe as a weekend watch with friends and family, itll be alright to watch again.

Leia Mais

37 minute Film Better Written Than Some Series

Was recommended this by a friend and as I have seen MJTY recently so have become aware of GJM's writing and direction style. Only 37 minutes told the story of two lives and how they became intertwined due to fate. The leads felt their characters deeply and it showed on screen. And there was a proper ending, which was nice. You felt everything one should feel in the dark settings but also hope in the future or at the end rather. Enemies to friends, then protection, facing adversity together, making a sacrifice for the other's safety. But not all is what it seems as the at the end reunion was made even more important and special.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. As mentioned above, just 37 minutes was written and acted better then some series with double the episode count.

Leia Mais

Great concept, confusing storytelling.

On paper I understand what I’m supposed to get from the story, but I am not sure the director did a good enough job for me to say the idea was translated well on screen. It ended up with me feeling like everyone is unhappy, because of the choices the female lead made.

While the movie had many great and poetic moments, I kept getting distracted by my own feelings which were: I felt extremely bad for the husband. Especially during the bar scene - whatever charm the scene was supposed to have, lost for me coz I kept thinking about the husband and how awful the whole situation must be for him.

The performances were great, though I was just not that into how the characters were written. Personally, I did not find Nora either likable or interesting. Not sure if I liked Hae Sung or just Yoo Teo’s pretty eyes and face, but he for sure aced the melancholic nostalgia feeling.

There was one scene that I really liked, and it was the “waiting for uber” one. I felt like it perfectly sums up the themes of the movie - connection, timing, hesitation. Would prefer if the movie actually ended there.

Overall, kind of enjoyable, but you truly need to completely ignore the husband and his side of this whole story not to feel at best awkward, at worst awful.

Side note - Polish subtitles in the cinema were awful. Maybe Korean phrases were translated in such a weird and “strong” way as if the characters were swearing left and right, when the meaning was supposed to be much lighter in tone.

Leia Mais

The part that a lot of people liked....I didn't?

I liked this movie because Akira keeps an upbeat attitude, even during an apocalypse. He looks toward the future with hope. I liked the bucket list and how it started with something as simple as 'clean my room.' Watching him chuck garbage out the window was amazing.

We're not gonna ask how the hell they managed to go paragliding. I'll assume they passed a store with the surf board things on the way to the lake. The way Akira lit up with such innocent joy at the sight of the camper and loved it so much was wonderful. Like, all of his dreams were coming true.

I wasn't a huge fan of the flight attendants, but the end of the world makes people do things, okay? Whatever. And some of the choices that were made were dumb--like throwing away your best weapon and for some reason not wearing Kevlar anymore? Or the movie broke its own rules--why did the zombies in the store follow them outside if the fireworks were still going? Why were no zombies attracted to the motorcycle sounds but followed the speaker? But I can ignore that for the sake of a good time.

The run through the street to get to the love motel was a wonderful, epic shot. Shizuka's final fight with -sound- was also epically shot. The message about living your life to the fullest was great. Akira became a flipping Kamen Rider at the end. Like, what~

I hated the zombie shark. And I've seen several comments that said the shark was their favorite part. It was my least favorite bit used in the movie. The shark being a zombie 1) didn't make sense, as no other animals were shown to be zombies or even suggested that they COULD become zombies and 2) it fucking grew human legs from the people it had eaten. Since when did a zombie virus give creatures the ability to mass alter their biological structure?

Literally give me the whole movie but without the shark and I would've adored it. The shark dragged down the Story and Rewatch Value of the movie for me.

Leia Mais

Best Korean thriller, period.

Nerve racking, not even a second wasted. This movie is the best Korean thriller. The acting from FL and ML is top notch. They get into the skin of their characters. You feel for the FL, root for her, and go to this roller coaster ride. What happens next? That’s the question in your head for the entire movies runtime. There is a good emotional connect between FL and her mom too. This is a masterpiece. Nowadays in the name of thrillers I see lot of Korean movies selling sex and some half assed story. Midnight is however no Nonsense thriller. This deserves a whole hearted 10/10. MDL viewers decided to park this in 8-9 category I guess.

Some ranting
There are lot of Korean thrillers that people are crazy about. When going through YouTube comments section, I found people going crazy over Old Boy, handmaiden claiming them to be epic thrillers. My opinion, Old boy and Handmaiden are bull shit in the context of thriller genre. Midnight however is a masterpiece in the thriller genre.

Leia Mais